The shipment of goods, worldwide, is a multi-billion dollar industry. In 2013, for example, the amount of freight carried by U.S. airlines in domestic shipments exceeded 12 million ton-miles, while total shipments (domestic and international, exceeded 61 million ton-miles. As domestic and international commerce and shipping increases, so does the amount of pilferage. While the amount of pilferage is difficult to determine with accuracy, estimates of losses in the U.S. alone have ranges from 3-10 billion dollars and up yearly.
Much of the losses occur during loading and unloading, as well as in warehousing of the goods, as opposed to diversion of a shipment during actual transport. And while pilferage and loss can result from the physical diversion of the bulk packaging during loading, unloading and warehousing, losses also result from the opening of packaging and the removal of the individual goods packed therein. The criminals typically cut through the packaging to extract the contents, the packaging remaining in place.
As much shipping is done in multi-layer corrugated fiberboard cartons, sometimes referred to as “Gaylord” boxes, access to a carton's interior by cutting through the container walls is relatively easy. The use of stronger packaging, such as metallic or composite cartons, significantly increases the overall weight and cost of the packaging as well as the shipping cost itself. While tamper resistant tapes are well known, as are sealing systems that indicate if tampering has occurred, there has been little success in formulating tamper resistant systems that are lightweight and protect the contents from pilferage, as opposed to providing evidence of such pilferage after it has occurred and the container contents removed, and that can be incorporated into or used with otherwise conventional packaging constructions.
It is accordingly a purpose of the present invention to provide a protective layer for conventional packaging, and especially Gaylord boxes, which provides increased protection against unauthorized entry into the container by cutting through the walls thereof.
A further purpose of the invention is to provide a protective layer that can be installed within conventional packaging without modification of the container in which it is installed.
Yet a further purpose of the invention is to provide a protective layer that can cover all inner surfaces of a container, and that can be easily assembled within a container and which can be manufactured in a variety of sizes.